40 Weeks
by thatgirl93
Summary: In this fluffy one-shot, Ron is worrying about Hermione (as always), but as he's reassured, he begins look back at their lives together. Rated T for language.


Ron laid on his back wide awake. It was 2:25 in the morning but he just couldn't sleep. He turned on his side to watch his wife's sleeping face. How peaceful she looked. He couldn't understand why. Her hands tucked snugly underneath her pillow as she breathed in such a graceful manner. Surely something must happen soon. He nervously played with the wedding band around his ring finger as he continued to watch her nervously. A worried glint in his eye as he bit his bottom lip, fighting the urge to wake her. He decided he couldn't help himself. He just had to ask. He placed a caring hand against her bare shoulder, nudging her ever so slightly.

"'Mione?", he spoke in almost a whisper as he continued to shake her carefully. Hermione remained in her sleepy state as Ron pouted. "Hermione", he spoke once more, this time a little louder. Without a single twitch of her eyelids, Hermione responded.

"Yes?", she said, her eyes still closed.

"Are you alright?", he asked her. Hermione sighed as she repositioned herself, in an attempt to get comfier.

"Yes, Ron. I'm fine", she told him simply. "Why do you ask?"

"It's just – It was 40 weeks _2_ days ago. Something should have happened by now", he told her as a matter-of-factly. Hermione sighed once more as she finally opened her eyes, looking up at his worried face.

"Ron. It's perfectly normal to be overdue", she told him. Ron took out his deluminator from the drawer in his bedside cabinet, giving it a small click as two balls of light travelled across the room, the bulbs of the two lamps that stood nearby consuming the energy as they filled the room with light. Hermione squinted in the sudden brightness as she sat up in bed, propping herself up on the palms of her hands until she sat in a comfy position, her huge bump bulging over the top of the duvet as she rubbed her eyes sleepily. She watched him judgementally as he reached down over the bed for something until he sat back up with a book in his lap.

"But, I read in here that a pregnancy is supposed to last for _40 weeks_ ", he told her, patting the book in front of him. Hermione couldn't help but feel her heart swell in learning that he had been reading up on pregnancy. She sighed lovingly before placing a caring hand on top of his.

"Yes, a pregnancy does usually last around 40 weeks, but it's not uncommon for some women to be overdue, Ron. We don't get to the 40-week mark and give birth just like that! Some women even have their babies _before_ 40 weeks!", she couldn't help but chuckle. Ron blushed a little at how silly he must've sounded. Hermione graced his cheek with the palm of her hand, looking at him adoringly as he sighed.

"I guess I'm just getting impatient", he mumbled. Hermione rolled her eyes a little as she shook her head disapprovingly.

"I do wish you wouldn't mumble", she told him as she ran her fingers through his messy red hair. Ron couldn't help but chuckle. "It'll be any day now, just wait and see", she told him. Ron nodded as he took her hand within his own, pressing his lips softly against her wedding band as she smiled warmly at him.

"So – so you don't feel _anything_?", he asked sadly. Hermione shook her head.

"I can feel her kicking a lot though", she smiled, taking his hand and placing it against her swollen stomach. Ron's eyes widened in astonishment as he felt the commotion going on underneath the palm of his hand.

"Bloody hell! I don't think I'll ever get used to this", he said, placing his other hand against her bump.

"Me neither", she chuckled lightly, as she watched him in awe of their unborn daughter.

"She'll definitely play Quidditch", he announced proudly as he smiled warmly at his wife. "Do you think she knows I'm here?", he suddenly asked. Hermione nodded confidently.

"She kicks more often when you tell us stories", she told him, continuing to run her fingers through his soft ginger locks. Ron sighed as he looked up at her, watching him with such love in her eyes.

"If someone had told me in our second year that I'd be married and having a baby with Hermione Granger, I'd have told them they were bloody bonkers!", he laughed. Hermione chuckled as she placed her hand on top of his.

"You and me both! And its Hermione _Weasley_ , thank you very much", she smirked. Ron removed his hand from under her touch and placed the palm of his hand softly against her rosy cheek. How he loved the feel of her skin. He would say it was as smooth as silk, but he was certain that even silk didn't feel _this_ smooth! He was still completely amazed by how much love he had for her. Over many years, Ron had witnessed so many couples fall out of love, go their separate ways and some even getting divorced, that he had always assumed that people just, eventually, fall out of love. Hermione had proved him wrong. Every day he would find something new that he loved about her. Today, he loved how calm and casual she was, even though she was 40 weeks and 2 days pregnant and must be getting awfully uncomfortable! He suddenly repositioned himself so he was sat at her level, inviting her into his embrace as he began to run his fingers through her hair instead. Her brunette locks were a tangled mess of curls, just the way Ron liked it. He recalled their wedding day and how she had met him down the aisle with her hair in a neat bun. She looked absolutely breath-taking, but something just wasn't right. Ron furrowed his brow at her, deep in thought as he tried to spot what was missing, when it suddenly hit him. As the registrar attempted to begin the ceremony, Ron stopped him with a quickly mumbled 'one second', which made Hermione roll her eyes. He could hear the whispers amongst the crowd as he suddenly reached for her bun, pulling out the bobby pins that were keeping it so neat and tidy. Hermione looked at him, completely dumbfounded as he helped her hair fall into its natural style; wavy and full of life.

"Perfect", he smiled softly. He watched the small tears beginning to form in her beautiful big brown eyes as he took her hands within his own and gave the registrar a quick wink, signalling him to start.

"What are you thinking about?", she suddenly asked, pulling him from his thoughts. She looked up at him, affection pouring from her eyes. Ron smiled warmly at her, kissing the top of her head as he sighed contently.

"Just being a soppy git", he told her. Hermione smiled before shuffling around a little, clearly struggling to get comfortable. "Are you alright?", he asked.

"Yes. Yes, I'm fine", she huffed as she finally settled. "It's just difficult to find a comfy position when you feel as heavy as a Hippogriff!", she told him. Ron chuckled softly as he kissed the top of her head once more.

"You're bloody amazing, you are", he told her. And he could only hope she knew just how much he meant that. She had always amazed him, if it wasn't her intelligence, it was her bravery. But this was a whole new level of amazement. He couldn't quite believe that for 40 weeks (and _two days_.) she had carried an actual human life inside of her. A human life that they had created _together_. And how excited he was. They were going to have a _daughter_ , and Ron had vowed to himself that he would always protect her. He would always protect _both of them_ , no matter what. He could feel his heart thumping within his chest as he thought on. In their sixth year, Ron had given up all hope of he and Hermione ever working things out. He had decided that he just wasn't good enough for her, and that was when, coincidentally, Lavender Brown had suddenly become interested in him. 'What a terrible decision', Ron grimaced at the thought of his former girlfriend. He wanted to give Hermione the world, like he truly felt she deserved, but all he could offer was a lanky, ginger fool who had made her cry on more than one occasion. He hated his younger self, and he often told himself that if he could ever go back in time, he would give younger Ron a smack around the head and tell him to stop being such a bloody idiot. But they had made it. _He_ had made it. He had gotten the girl he was so sure would have ended up with his best friend, the hero of their story. But over the years they had been together and in the year they had been married, Ron knew that he was _her_ hero, and that was all that really mattered.

"I love you, Ron", she whispered as she placed her hand against his bare chest, right above his heart. She gave a tired yawn before allowing herself to fall back to sleep, completely at peace in her husband's embrace. Ron smiled warmly as he ducked his head, allowing his lips to softly make contact with her temple.

"I love you too, Hermione", he whispered in return. With a swift click of his deluminator, the balls of energy that had been consumed by the bulbs he had sent them to earlier made their way back to him, the room falling into darkness as Ron yawned himself. Slowly closing his eyes until he found himself reminiscing some more in his dreams…

It was a cold and dreary night. The rain had poured all day, ruining both his and Hermione's agendas and he was becoming irritable. He had had plans that day. _Important_ plans! Plans so important that he had spent a month preparing them in secret with Harry, and had only decided a week before that that day would be the day he would go through with them. 'Stupid fucking rain', he thought to himself as he sat on the sofa pouting. He wanted to go out and continue with his well thought-out ideas, despite the rain, but, Hermione had insisted that the weather was far too terrible for either of them to go out today. The muggle television that Hermione's parents had bought them as a moving in gift was blaring loudly as he flickered through the channels mindlessly.

"Ron!", Hermione called his name sharply from the kitchen. She strutted into the living room, taking the television remote away from him and turning the volume down. "Are you deaf!", she asked.

"Sorry", he mumbled. Hermione raised her eyebrow at him, her hands on her hips as she watched him with suspicious eyes.

"What on earth is the matter with you today? You've been in such a foul mood _all_ day!", she huffed.

"Just – had stuff I had to do. S'all", he mumbled. Hermione pinched the skin between her eyebrows in frustration. How it irritated her when he mumbled like a naughty child.

"Well – I had to miss work today too, you know?", she attempted to sympathise with him. "We were _supposed_ to be filing the paperwork against the mistreatment of house elves today", she sighed as she took a seat beside him.

"My day was more important", he spoke without really thinking. He wanted to take back the words as soon as he had said them, feeling her angry stare burning into his skin without even looking at her.

" _Excuse me_! I don't know how you could say such a thing! Protecting the rights of house elves is just as important as whatever top secret plans you made with Harry!", she raised her voice at him. He gave her a shocked look at her final words, his blue eyes widening in surprise. "Oh yes, don't think that I don't know that you're up to something, Ronald Weasley!", she told him. Ron could feel his cheeks flushing a bright shade of red as he tried with everything he had not to fight back. If only she knew. He got up out of his seat, running his fingers through his hair as he made his way into the kitchen. Hermione was quick to follow him. "Don't ignore me, Ron!", she yelled at him, becoming angrier by the second.

"I don't want to argue with you, 'Mione", he told her simply. Hermione was taken aback by his declaration. He had always wanted to have the last thundering word in any row that they had. His lack of retaliation gave her cause for concern. Her angry stare suddenly turning to a soft, worried glare. It wasn't that she _enjoyed_ it when they argued, in fact, she felt quite the opposite, it was that, to Hermione, when they did argue, the fact that he fought back meant he cared. Was he growing tired of her?

"Is there – is there something you want to tell me?", she asked nervously. Ron could the see the small tears beginning to form in her eyes. Fuck. He'd upset her. The last thing he wanted to do today was upset her! His hands began to feel clammy as he searched for a response, any kind of response to reassure her that-

"No", he suddenly replied, rather simply. _No_? No! What a moron. Out of all the things he could have said, he went with no? He watched her swallow a visible lump in her throat as she looked at him sadly.

"Oh. I see", she said in almost a whisper before turning and heading back into the living room. Shit. He couldn't leave her thinking that she didn't care. As much as he didn't want to, he'd have to tell her. He quickly followed the ghost of her footsteps into the living room. She sat perched on the edge of the sofa, staring at the television as the thunder began to roar outside, suddenly causing the electricity to shut off. "Lumos", Hermione spoke with a wave of her wand, placing it on the coffee table in front of her as she stared away from the light into the darkness.

"Hermione. I don't know what you're thinking, but – but it's not what you think", he tried to explain. She gave him a confused glance before looking back into the darkness, tucking her hair behind her ears.

"Then what is it?", she asked without looking at him. Ron sighed, taking a step forward so that he was stood by the coffee table in front of her.

"I – I was going shopping", he stuttered.

"Shopping?", she looked up at him. "What for?", she quizzed him further. Ron rubbed the back of his neck nervously before perching on the edge of the coffee table.

"I wanted to – I was going to buy a ring", he told her. Hermione stared at him, still looking a little confused as her eyes begged him to explain further. Ron sighed in frustration with himself. "Me and Harry had it all planned out! We were going to go to Diagon Alley and I was going to get you some roses that Harry was going to enchant to smell like spearmint toothpaste and – and then I was going to go to Flourish and Blotts and get you the new edition of Hogwarts: A History and George had some fireworks ready at the shop", he paused, running his fingers through his hair as he dropped his head in his lap for a moment before sitting back up and speaking into the darkness, too terrified and too nervous to look at her. "Then – then I was going to get the ring. And it was supposed to be perfect. But then it started raining and you said we shouldn't go anywhere and then I went and mucked it all up like I always do because I'm a bloody prat and, honestly, Hermione, I don't know what you're doing with-", Ron immediately stopped talking as he felt her small fingers suddenly pressed softly against his lips. In his nervous rambling, he hadn't even noticed that she had shuffled to sit herself in front of him. He dared to look into her eyes. Small tears leaked down her cheeks as she looked up at him, her brown eyes shining so beautifully that it completely took his breath away.

"Ron", she spoke softly, slowly placing her hand down on her lap, the taste of her fingers lingering on Ron's lips like he had just eaten a particularly spicy curry. "Are you – were you going to propose?", she asked. Ron gave a small sigh of defeat as he nodded.

"I'm sorry, Hermione. I wanted it to be perfect, because that's what you deserve", he told her, staring into the same darkness that she had been staring into just moments before, too ashamed to look her.

"Ron. Look at me", she spoke softly once more. Following instruction, Ron looked back at her, surprised to find her smiling warmly at him, her eyelashes blinking away the last of the tears that remained in her big brown eyes as she looked deep into his. He felt like she was staring right into his soul. "You could propose to me in a dirty old abandoned warehouse that smelt like – like _dragon tartare_ and it would _still_ be perfect!", she told him enthusiastically, placing the palm of her hand softly against his cheek. "Because it would be you", she finished sweetly, looking at him with such love in her eyes that Ron started to wonder why he was so worried in the first place. Reacting impulsively, Ron suddenly got down on one knee, snugly crouched between the coffee table and Hermione's knees.

"You're bloody brilliant you are. And you – I can only imagine the mess I'd be without you. You know I'm not really into all that mushy crap but – but you complete me. I'm better when I'm with you. I'm still a prat sometimes, but I'm better", he paused as she chuckled, sniffing slightly as he suddenly took her left hand in his. "I've never been any good at making decisions but I'm pretty confident that I want to spend the rest of my life with you. If you'll let me", he continued, the pair were still for a moment as he watched her eyes shifting between his in awe. "Hermione, will you marry me?", he finally asked. He felt like his heart was in his throat, his cheeks flushed a bright shade of red and everything seemed to go in slow motion as he witnessed more small tears falling from her eyes as she gently squeezed his hand.

"Yes, Ron. Yes, I will", she sniffed, grinning brightly. Did he hear that right? Did Hermione Granger just agree to marry him! She crashed her lips into his, running her hands through his hair as she moved her mouth softly against his. Ron placed his large hands on top of her thighs, feeling too many emotions to list as his head whirled. They parted lips slowly, their foreheads coming together as Hermione looked lovingly into his eyes.

"I wish I had a ring for you", he told her honestly. Hermione suddenly sat back, a thoughtful look on her face before she grabbed her shining wand from the table.

"Accio ring", she said, holding her hand out when a small gold ring glided into the living room and landed in the palm of her hand. It was quite a beautiful ring. The band was but a small one, and it bared a small orange diamond, centred by a dozen smaller white diamonds. "This was my grandmother's ring. I know whatever ring you would've picked out would have been wonderful, but, I know my grandmother would've loved me to wear this", she smiled fondly. Ron nodded in agreeance as he took the ring from her palm, taking her left hand back within his own and gently sliding the ring onto her ring finger.

"It's perfect", he told her, smiling warmly as he leaned into kiss her once more. As he moved his lips against hers, his fingers getting lost in her beautiful mess of hair, he felt a slight nudging sensation. A ringing in his ear came out of nowhere as he struggled to shake it…

His eyes began to flutter open as he gave a stretch and sat up slowly in his bed. As he allowed his eyes to come into focus, he noticed the bed sheets felt quite damp which he had put down to him sweating, a frequent occurrence whenever he dreamed about Hermione.

"Ron!", her alarmed voice fully awoke him. She was at up on top of the duvet beside him, a worried expression plastered across her face. "I think my waters broke", she told him. Ron's eyes widened at the news. Without even thinking, he jumped up out of bed, rushing towards the wardrobe where he took out a large travel bag and placed it by the foot of the bed before rushing to her side, wrapping his arm gently around her waist as he helped her stand.

"Are you alright? Are you in any pain?", he asked hurriedly.

"I'm fine, I don't feel anything yet", she told him. But it appeared that she had spoken too soon as she suddenly doubled over, yelping in pain as she pressed her hand firmly against her bump. Whilst still holding her up, Ron took out his wand and muttered 'accio bag' as the bag flew to his side.

"It's going to be okay. Let's get you to the hospital", he told her reassuringly, she nodded enthusiastically as he began to help her out of their bedroom door and down the stairs. He hated seeing her in any kind of pain, and although he was careful to hide it, he was worried out of his mind. But he remembered what he had learnt from the many books he had read on pregnancy. He would be supportive and reassuring no matter what. And even amongst the long list of strange, familiar and terrifying emotions he was feeling, he couldn't quite believe that in a matter of hours, the absolute love of his life would give birth to their daughter, and that he would become a father.


End file.
